“We are usually too busy in our daily work that we often don’t get to do new things. While ‘innovating’ might feel like a big task to do in our individual roles or capacities, a first step forward is introducing the idea of imagination - where people can see possibilities,” said Prince Antony, Epsilon Director, Software Engineering, who is also part of the team that conceptualized Epsilon’s Imagination Day.
Introduced just last year in 2022, Imagination Day is an initiative run by the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tech team in Epsilon India. It is a competition event that enables Epsilon employees to pitch ideas that are aligned to our business, technology or processes, brainstorm ideas together, network and learn from and inspire each other.
Season 2 of Imagination Day welcomed 22 employees across 7 teams (6 from India and 1 from the US) to compete for the winning trophy. Each team had 10 minutes to present their ideas to a jury of CRM tech leaders, and it was not just the jury that the team had to impress. The ideas needed to strike a chord with the over 80 CRM team members as well, since they would be voting for the best, most innovative ideas.
After two days of pitching sessions, the team settled on the top three ideas: Face-IT, Prakriya (Process) and Torrid Hot Topic.
The winning idea was Face-IT, which was focused on candidate evaluation in hiring process using machine learning-based face and voice recognition. This would assist interviewers in identifying the right and relevant candidates by screening their behavior.
The runners up, the Prakriya team, worked on a intuitive custom global template that would help in process standardization across accounts. The second runners up pitched Torrid Hot Topic, an idea that revolved around the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and the access/delete automation process across clients. This team observed that the current CCPA process is very client specific and requires manual interventions during several touchpoints, and the team’s solution would help with standardization, cost reduction and time saving.
Recounting their experience at the event, the winning team shared, “This was a truly inspiring experience. The platform provided was user-friendly and easy to navigate, making it easy for us to submit our ideas. The judging process was fair and transparent, and we were impressed by the level of creativity and innovation displayed by the other participants. It was clear that everyone had put a lot of thought and effort into their ideas. What stood out most to us was the level of support and encouragement provided by the organizers. They truly believed in the potential of each idea and were dedicated to helping us bring our ideas to life. Overall, Imagination Day was a fantastic opportunity for us to tap into our creativity and develop our idea-generating skills. We would highly recommend this challenge to anyone looking to tap into their imagination and make a real impact.”
Stemming from the competition, the top 3 winning teams have been given mentors who will guide them in polishing their ideas and implementing those soon for the business.
At Epsilon, we strive to nurture an environment where our employees can think-out-of-the-box, look for new ways to solve business problems and explore possibilities.
As Reetesh Pendase, Senior Director, Software Engineering, and one of the jury members of this year’s Imagination Day, said, "To innovate, one has to imagine an IDEA in working. That precisely has been the theme of Imagination Day. Global teams putting their imagination in form of ideas and a jury along with 100+ colleagues voting for the best idea, bench marking them against criteria such as feasibility, impact, ease of implementation, novelty, etc. That the ideas of interns and new grads were voted among the top 3 speaks volume about the fairness and open forum provided for employees.”
Epsilon India is Great Place to Work-certified™! We have also been recognized as one of India’s Top 100 Best Workplaces for Women 2022, and India’s Top 100 Best Workplaces TM in IT/IT-BPM 2022 by the Great Place to Work Institute (India). If you are on the lookout for exciting career opportunities, check out our open positions. We’d love to have you.